Word Origin & History

collect 1573 (trans.), from O.Fr. collecter (1371), from L. collectus, pp. of colligere "gather together," from com- "together" + legere "to gather." The intrans. sense is attested from 1794. As an adj. meaning "paid by the recipient" it is attested from 1893, originally with ref. to telegrams.

Example Sentences for collect

The sooner we collect the sooner we'll hear what's on your mind.

Possibly the man was a little too eager to collect his road and river taxes.

To aggregate is to collect into a flock; to collect into a mass or sum.

We will make a law for gold and silver; then their law ceases, and we can collect our debts.

Of course, I think you're quite right to collect them yourself.

The government directed Forney in 1858 to collect these children, and he did so.

Go, that I may collect my thoughts, the world forget, and first of all thyself!

You collect five pencils; when you've got them, I'll tell you another game.

I determined to collect what information I could, and the result is given in the following pages.

As he rode, his soul overflowing with the joy of life, he hummed the Collect for the Day.